


Whirlpool

by mintyfreshness



Series: Storms [2]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Whump, canon divergence (but only slightly)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-11-28 14:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18209654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintyfreshness/pseuds/mintyfreshness
Summary: He’s talking as if this is going to be a good idea. It isn’t. There’s no way this goes off without a hitch. He’s still talking, still trying to justify it and all Astrid can think about is that there are too many things that can go wrong with this plan.“I really don’t think this is a good idea, Hiccup.”“Where has this come from? You were all for it before we left.”“And then I thought about it a bit more and I realised this is a brilliant way for him to get himself killed.”[in which Minty uses dramatic licence for a retelling of RTTE episode 'Dire Straits']





	1. Chapter 1

He’s talking as if this is going to be a good idea. It isn’t. There’s no way this goes off without a hitch. He’s still talking, still trying to justify it and all Astrid can think about is that there are too many things that can go wrong with this plan. 

“Okay, don’t bring me up unless I tug the chain twice, no matter what,” he finishes, sweeping a glance over Fishlegs, then to her, then makes for the death-trap on the deck twenty paces away.

Astrid snorts and crosses her arms. “Well, we’re not gonna do that. Of course we’re going to bring you back up if we think you’re in danger.”

He turns around, sighing. “Astrid-”

“I really don’t think this is a good idea, Hiccup.”

“Where has this come from? You were all for it before we left.”

“And then I thought about it a bit more and I realised _this is a brilliant way for him to get himself killed_.”

“I know my designs have been temperamental in the past, but this one will work!”

“Of course it will, why would I have any reservations about you being dropped to the ocean floor in a metal box that you literally finished making five minutes before we left, that wouldn’t be reckless or life-endangering at all, Hiccup!”

“Astrid, come on-”

“The window cracked in the first one you built!”

“I fixed it!”

“It’s too dangerous!”

“We don’t exactly have a lot of options, Astrid. We need to do this now, or Berk starves, I don’t really see an alternative-” 

“You’re _guilting_ me for being worried about you? That you might drown?”

“Astrid.” He steps forward, placing his gear on the floor so he can gently grab her hands in his. “I’m going to be fine.”

She sighs and looks into his eyes. His wonderful green eyes that she could get lost in for hours if she knew no one else was watching. “Please be fine. I… I can’t imagine a world without you in it.”

He grimaces slightly; she’s sure he’s also recalling when she nearly died from the Scourge. “I wouldn’t give Snotlout the satisfaction of taking my place,” he chuckles softly.

With a final squeeze of her hands, he picks his gear back up and heads over to the capsule. Astrid’s hands, feeling empty without his reassuring touch, dangle loosely by her sides, shaking with nerves slightly as she watches him climb up into the chamber. She doesn’t take her eyes off it from when it rises from the deck until it disappears beneath the waves.

“I still don’t like this,” she mutters to no one in particular as she casts her gaze towards the rocks off the bow. Her worries are relieved somewhat when the first tug on the bell comes, but it’s still nerve-wracking waiting the thirty or so seconds to the next, knowing how far down he is, knowing how little would have to go wrong for him to-

Something catches her eye on the horizon. A ship. Several- no, two.

“Uh, guys!”

Viggo.

“No, no, no,” Fishlegs cries. “The vibrations from his ship, and the Submaripper…”

“We’ll take care of Viggo,” she says, head instantly switched into battle mode, planning their line of attack. “He won’t get into the Straits. Come on!”

She runs up to the side of the ship and throws herself off, hearing the rustle of wind that precedes her dragon approaching from her left. For the split second she is airborne before Stormfly catches her, she has only one thought.

 _No one will harm Hiccup while there is air in my lungs_.

Snotlout and Hookfang flank her left; to her right, the twins prepare their dragon for battle. The first catapult is fired but Stormfly dodges it easily. Too easily. The rock sails past them and crashes into the ocean below. Towards-

“Ha! Look at those dopes, they can’t even shoot straight – their boulders are nowhere near us!” Ruff shouts gleefully, but Astrid is one thought ahead of her.

“That’s because they’re not trying to hit us!”

“That seems counter-productive, don’t you think?” Tuff offers snidely, but she shakes her head, a new strategy already forming.

“Not if they’re trying to rile up the Submaripper instead.” She sees the understanding register on their faces. “We need to get back to Fishlegs and get Hiccup out, right now.” She urges Stormfly into a sharp turn, streaking back towards their ship, the others hot on their tail. A few more rocks are launched skyward; they fall far short of the sky-borne riders, but their true target lies on the sea floor far beneath them.

They land on the deck in a semi-circle and Astrid huffs in frustration as she dismounts. “I _knew_ this would happen, I _knew_ something would go wrong, I _told_ him-”

“Astrid-”

“-stupid, reckless, dangerous-”

“Astrid.”

“-probably going to get himself killed-”

“ASTRID.”

“ _What?"_

“You need to see this.”

Next to the ship, a whirlpool is forming. And then everything starts to tilt to port.

Toothless yowls in concern; in a flash, Fishlegs takes to the wheel behind them. “Oh, no!” he grunts, the tiller fighting him as the ship is drawn closer to the liquid sinkhole. The rest of the riders spring into action, taking to the sky again and grabbing robe, chain, sail – anything they can get purchase on to try and pull the ship out of the maelstrom. Stormfly squawks under the effort; besides them, Hookfang pants as he takes the brunt of the force.

 _This isn’t working_.

A strategy reformulated in an instant, Astrid urges her Nadder back to the deck, landing next to Fishlegs and a concerned Toothless.

“Fishlegs, we have to bring him up.”

“But it’s too early. What about-?”

Fishlegs is cut off by an aggravated Night Fury.

“Right, right. Meatlug – winch!”

Toothless bounds back over to watch the chain rise from the sea, eagerly anticipating his rider’s return. Astrid grabs the planking next to her and fights the urge to swear again as her knuckles turn white under the strain. _Why did I let him do this?_

“Astrid, look!”

Her gaze lifts to the sea in front of them. The vortex has stopped, the Submaripper calmed – for now, at least. The Riders cheer.

“He did it!” Fishlegs shouts. “He did it!”

The breath leaves her chest in a sigh of relief. _Okay, maybe I overreacted_.

“Okay, everyone – pull!” she instructs, her gaze focusing on the rising chain. _Come on Hiccup, just a bit longer…_

None of them see the boulder until it’s too late.

The riders scatter, diving away from the falling mass, and she turns back to the winch just in time to see it buckle and snap, the chain hanging loose before starting to fall back into the ocean.

“No!” she cries, chasing after Toothless as the Night Fury tries to take the chain in his mouth in an attempt to hold it in place, but to no avail.

The dragon disappears over the side along with the chain.

“Oh my gods.” Fishlegs barely whispers, but Astrid hears him anyway.

“What do we…”

“Astrid, what do we do?”

“I… I…”

She doesn’t know. She just stares mutely over the side.

Beneath the surface, there are two purple flashes.

“What the…?”

Beside her, the others move for a glimpse of the same observation, but no more blasts happen. The sea is calm and undisturbed. Astrid opens her mouth to explain what she saw but is cut off by a Submaripper suddenly surfacing two metres away.

The riders stumble back, silent in shock as they register the metal capsule in its mouth. The pod falls to the deck with a thud, before the behemoth dragon falls back to the water with a small tidal wave and disappears from view.

She runs forward as the capsule empties itself onto the deck, gallons of water gushing from fissures all over the hull – but none of them are big enough for a person to get through. She makes it to the window, palms pressed to the amber as she squints into the darkness and is relieved for a second as her eyes come to rest on a familiar face and red tunic.

Another second is all it takes for her to realise his chest isn’t moving.

“We need to get him out of there!” Her voice is tinged with panic. _No, no, please, not Hiccup_ -

“How? It’s dragon-proof!” Fishlegs cries to her side, cut off somewhat by a damp Night Fury climbing back onto the deck beside him. Toothless roars at the capsule, becoming even more distressed when his rider offers no response.

“We got this!” Tuff darts forward with a long pole, jamming it into one of the larger cracks on view. “Barf, Belch!'

Astrid watches as the dragon heads weave around each other, creating enough torque to split the capsule down the weakened fissure. The metal screams as bolts are forced from their holes, the last of the water leaking from the new exit point, and Astrid hopes that he will follow it out, but there is no sound of movement. 

“Now pull him out, quickly!” Fishlegs sounds almost as distressed as she feels, but she fights the urge to scream as they reach in to grab Hiccup, tries to rationalise that it was just the distortion from the window that meant she couldn’t see the rise and fall of his chest.

But then they lay him flat on the deck and he is still completely motionless. Not a twitch, not a flicker, not a breath in his chest.

“Oh no, _Hiccup_ -” she sobs, placing a hand above his heart. A move she regrets when she feels that not moving either. “Please breathe. _Please_ breathe.”

“There’ll be water in his lungs,” Tuffnut offers, his voice shakier than she expects. She can’t look away from Hiccup’s slightly parted lips to see Tuff’s expression. “We need to get it out. Quickly.”

“How?”

“Put your hands one on top of the other on his chest, like this,” he demonstrates. His clasped hands come to rest in the centre of Hiccup’s chest, just below the leather strap, and then he starts to push.

A gush of water leaves Hiccup’s mouth and splashes onto the deck beside him. A small amount trickles down over his chin and pools at the base of his throat between his collarbones.

Astrid thinks she might be sick.

Tuff repeats the motion; another burst erupts from Hiccup’s mouth. He does it again once, twice, three times more until they can hear the air whistling through his nostrils, and they know his lungs are mostly clear.

But Hiccup’s chest still doesn’t move by itself.

“Now what?”

“We need to try and get his heart beating again,” Ruffnut says, kneeling down next to her brother across from Astrid. “Keep going Tuff, it’s the same motion as clearing his chest.”

“Yeah, and there’s also the other bit,” her brother says, huffing as he starts working Hiccup’s chest again.

“The other bit?” Fishlegs whimpers. Beside him, Toothless gives a low moan, desperate to help but unsure as to how.

“I don’t want to do it,” Ruff murmurs, her expression dejected as she steals a glance at Hiccup’s face.

“Well I don’t think he’d want _me_ to do it either, given the choice,” Tuff spits back, breathing heavily as he continues to press on Hiccup’s chest. The twins share a glance.

“You mean-”

“Yep.”

“That’s a lot for her to take on, Tuff!”

“Well I don’t think anyone else is really going to want to-”

“Ruff! Tuff! Explain!” Astrid snaps, breaking up their conversation.

“Well, when our cousin Gruffnut nearly drowned, Gothi had to, well…”

“Gothi had to what, Ruff?” Astrid snaps, eyes searching Hiccup’s face for movement other than that induced by Tuff’s compressions. Nothing.

“She breathed air into his lungs,” Ruff says. “She said after that it helped encourage his heart to get going again.”

Astrid looks up from Hiccup’s face. “We need to… what?”  
  
“Astrid, Tuff’s going to stop in a second so you can breathe for Hiccup. Pinch his nose hard, tilt his head back, make a seal with your mouths. Then breathe out into his mouth twice. Big lungfuls.”

Astrid blanches. “Breathe for- no, Ruff, I can’t…” 

“Astrid, we have to.”

“But why _me_?”

"Because when he wakes up, he’s going to be much happier if he finds out that you did it versus any of the rest of us,” Tuff grunts, his exertion starting to show on his face.

“I-”

“Astrid, _now_.”

Tuffnut pulls his hands away from Hiccup’s chest; in a split second, Astrid’s hands fly down to pinch Hiccup’s nose and tilt his head back. Her lips hover above his, hesitant to make the connection.

 _Hiccup, I love you_ , she thinks as she draws in the biggest breath of her life. _Please, come back to me_.

Her lips touch his, but not in a nice way, not in any way she could call a kiss, and she has to refrain from sobbing as she sends a lungful of air into his body. A pause, a second inhale, another chest-full passed between them. But only one way. Only one set of lungs working as they should.

As soon as their lips break contact, Ruff’s hands replace her brother’s on Hiccup’s chest.

“Did… did it work?”

Tuff shakes his head, still panting slightly as he sits back. “He’s still not moving air on his own. We gotta keep going.”

“For how long?”

“For as long as it takes.” Everyone except Ruff turns their heads to look at Snotlout, so silent until this point that they had forgotten he was there too. He sniffles and wipes his nose on his sleeve. “He’s my cousin. I don’t… I can’t… I can’t just watch him die.”

“He’s not gonna die. We just gotta keep going,” Ruff huffs, working Hiccup’s chest. “Astrid, can you do another couple of breaths?”

Astrid nods, leans forward to repeat the motions. She cups Hiccup’s chin with one hand, pinching his nose with the other, takes a big gulp of air and leans down to breathe into him again. It feels so wrong, so terribly wrong and not at all how she imagined she’d next press her lips against his.

A small retreat, an inhalation, her mouth back against his, breathing life into him. She hopes. _Please breathe, Hiccup, please, I can’t imagine a world without you in it_ -

She sits back again as Tuff rises to take over from his sister, her eyes scanning over Hiccup’s face in a desperate search for a twitch, a flicker, _anything_ that could pass for a sign of life.

Tuff’s only made three compressions when she sees it.

“Stop.”

She watches carefully, scared it was nothing more than wishful thinking. A few nerve-racking seconds of silence follow as they wait for it to happen again, punctuated only by Toothless’ mournful moan as he watches his best friend cling to life by a thread.

Hiccup’s eyelid twitches again.

Then his hand.

Then, slowly but surely, by the gift of the gods, his chest rises and falls of its own volition.

Their collective cry of relief is loud enough that Astrid thinks it can be heard all the way back on Berk.

“Hiccup?” she tries, grasping the hand lying closest to her as she keeps her eyes on his chest, watching each shallow breath while holding her own. “Hiccup, can you hear me?”

His face scrunches in discomfort, but his next breath is deep and full- well, it is for half a second until he starts coughing and spluttering; his hand shifting from her grasp as he rolls to the side to splutter another mouthful of water and saliva all over the deck next to Astrid’s knee. Some of it lands on her skirt, but she couldn’t care less as she watches his beautiful green eyes open and his chest expand in a sharp gasp.

“Oh Hiccup!”

Toothless bounds forward, knocking Tuff out of the way as he leans down to lick his rider’s face. The Night Fury’s expression is nothing but pure relief as he runs his tongue all over Hiccup’s upper body and head, only abating when he raises an arm to wave him off, fighting off another coughing fit. He tentatively holds himself up on his elbows and makes eye contact with Astrid, quizzical and worried at the concern on her face. She resists the urge to cup his cheek with her hand, or pull him to her chest, or lean in and kiss him, and instead sits back on her knees and holds her hands to her chest as Hiccup looks around at the crowd surrounding him.

“What-” He’s cut off by another round of coughs racking his chest, but this time it’s a shorter fit and it rattles less than before. After a few seconds, he tries again. “What happened? What’s going on?”

“You tried to become a fish, my friend,” Tuff says, patting him on his shoulder. “But alas, you were unsuccessful due to your lack of gills. Perhaps in a different life.”

“I tried to… what?”

“The winch broke and the pod fell to the bottom,” Fishlegs explains, his voice shaking slightly. “It must have taken some damage when it impacted and started filling with water. The Submaripper brought it back up and put it on the deck, but when we got you out, you…” He trails off, unable to finish the sentence.

Hiccup’s gaze shifts around the group, all of whom refuse to speak, before returning to Astrid, an inquiring look on his face. She takes a deep breath to make sure her words are steady. “You weren’t breathing, Hiccup.”

She sees his tiny gasp as he finally understands the pain evident across her features. “How… how long was I out for?”

“Several minutes,” she whispers. “The twins knew Gothi’s method of getting the water out of your lungs but even after that you…” She bites her lip, fighting tears. “You still weren’t breathing.”

She flinches as he starts coughing again, more water splattering onto the deck beside them but she’s so far beyond the point of caring about getting her clothing damp. He’s alive. That’s all that matters.

“Did you… did you think I was…?”

Her voice will betray her if she speaks, so she just nods.

“Astrid…”

Her name in his voice, raspy and rattling as it is, makes her shiver.

His hand reaches out to her; she grabs it between both of hers without hesitation.

“I’m-”

“Shhh,” she soothes him. “It’s okay. Save your strength.”

“But I-”

“Tell me later, okay?” she smiles. “Just keep breathing for now.”

He returns her smile weakly. “Anything for you,” he whispers.

“Uh, guys, I hate to break up whatever’s going on here, but we still gotta deal with Viggo.” It seems Hiccup’s recovery has returned Snotlout to his usual bullish nature. Astrid pushes herself to her feet, patting her skirt down with her hands.

“Yeah, yeah, we gotta… we gotta go fight him off,” Hiccup wheezes, trying to stand up next to her.

Astrid puts her foot down. Literally, on his chest, so he can’t get up.

“There is no ‘we’ about this, Hiccup,” she says shortly, staring down at him. “You just nearly drowned. You are in no state to fight anyone in your condition." 

“Astrid-” 

“Nope, you cannot ‘Astrid’ me on this, Hiccup. You are not leaving this boat until we dock back at the Edge.”

“But I-” he tries sitting up again.

“We’re all with Astrid on this one, H,” Tuff says, sauntering forward to clamp a conciliatory hand on Hiccup’s shoulder. The jolt sets off another coughing fit and Tuff withdraws his hand with a grimace. Ruffnut just presses her face into her palm and huffs.

“Fishlegs?” Hiccup tries once the coughing subsides.

“I’m sorry, Hiccup.”

He sighs and leans back down, Toothless coming to curl around him. “Fine,” he mutters, scowling at the deck, lips pursing into a pout.

Astrid relents a little and kneels back down next to him. “Hey.” She grabs his chin gently, tilting it up until they make eye contact. “We just watched you nearly die. Cut us some slack for wanting to avoid it a second time.”

His face softens. “I hadn’t thought of it like that. I’m sorry."

Without thinking, she leans in and plants her lips on her cheek. “Don’t be sorry,” she whispers into his ear. “Be not dead.” 

Around her, the other riders mount their dragons. She meets his eyes one more time, before rising and slinging herself on Stormfly’s back. “Riders!”

 

* * *

 

It’s not much of a battle, in the end. 

They set off prepared for catapults and bolas, but Viggo and Ryker just slink away with their tails between their legs, tugged to freedom by some captive Seashockers. Astrid calls the attack off, not wanting to risk the dragons’ safety, but just as they’re about to turn back she notices Viggo making a gesture towards them. A very obscene gesture.

“ _You ever try anything like that with me, and I will tear your manhood from your body and feed it to my dragon!_ ” she bellows across the water. “ _I swear to Odin!_ ”

Snotlout starts to chuckle but stops abruptly when Astrid switches her death glare to him. “Come on, Hooky,” he mumbles, urging his dragon back to the boat, with the twins following hot on their tail. Astrid turns to scowl at Viggo, gradually becoming a speck on the horizon, before instructing Stormfly to make their return.

Landing back on the deck thirty seconds later, Astrid jumps off Stormfly to find Hiccup, slightly less damp now, standing almost upright assisted by Toothless, who warbles as if to say _it wasn’t my idea, he made me do it, I swear_. Around them, the others prepare to lift the ship into the air again, securing loose objects and tying ropes around dragons.

“I’m fine, Astrid,” he says, extending a hand as if she were a stray dragon he’s trying to train.

“I believe you,” she smiles, and his posture relaxes. “And I’m glad to see you have the strength to stand. But we do need to get Gothi to see you as soon as possible.”

He nods, and she wanders closer. “So, as my best ideas go, do you reckon this one tops the list?”

She decides that it would be cruel to hit him in his current state, so she settles for rolling her eyes. He simply chuckles.

“Okay, it might need some _minor_ modifications-”

She steps forward until they’re so close that she can feel his breathing. Which is exactly what she wants to reassure herself about. “Please don’t do that again. I can’t imagine what I would’ve done if you’d actually…”

His head falls to her shoulder, and she feels his hands slide into hers. “I won’t. I promise. I won’t ever leave you.”

He picks his head up and looks at her face, eyes searching for something within. And if Astrid wasn’t so close, she might not notice the way his gaze drops to her lips, or the way his tongue darts out to moisten his own before he pulls the bottom one between his teeth. But even if she weren’t, she would definitely not miss the way his face starts to tilt towards hers, eyes closing as he-

“Astrid! We’re just waiting on you now,” Fishlegs calls, completely oblivious to what is going on between them.

Hiccup sighs and starts to retreat away from her. Astrid isn’t quite sure what to think. Or _how_ to think, to be perfectly honest. So she settles for leaning up and pressing her lips to his cheek.

“Can we finish this conversation later?” she whispers. He nods against her, skin on skin as their cheeks brush. Toothless warbles soft encouragement, and they both smile.

With a squeeze of his hands, she darts back to Stormfly, wrapping the final rope around the dragon’s midsection and securing it with a knot, before mounting the saddle and urging her into the air. Slowly, co-ordinating four ways, they pull into the air until the ship clears the surface of the sea. Once they’re sure it will hold, the dragons set a course for the Edge.

Not once on the way back does Hiccup’s gaze leave her face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some fluff! yay!

It’s almost cute, Astrid thinks in hindsight, how much Hiccup protests being looked after by the other riders in the following days. For the first day, it’s not too bad, as he’s mostly too weak to do anything other than sit up and speak softly and take food and water at regular intervals, but after that they almost have to sit on him to stop him getting out of bed to do _things_. Toothless does actually sit on him a lot, at Astrid’s request, and Hiccup grumbles about a certain _mutinous reptile_ under his breath whenever the three of them are alone in his hut together. The dragon in question simply chortles and settles back down to sit on his leg again.

Gothi flies back with Snotlout two days after they return to the Edge, and it’s only when the Elder shoos her out mid-morning that Astrid finally leaves Hiccup’s side. After staying awake since the incident, eyes locked on his chest to make sure he doesn’t stop breathing again, she’s exhausted to her core, and she barely manages to pull her amour away from her skin before she collapses into her bed and her eyes slide shut. 

It’s late evening when she wakes again, and she lies still for a moment, taking in the warm summer air on her skin and the chirruping of some birds in the distance, interrupted by the _whoosh_ that indicates that Hookfang has set himself alight. Probably because Snotlout’s ego has got too big again, as it is wont to do after a victory.

She pushes herself to sitting and rubs her hands on her face, releasing some tension she hadn’t realised she was still holding. The sleep has refreshed her, calmed some of the anxieties in her mind, and offers a new clarity to the thoughts she’s been throwing around for days.

She needs to go and see Hiccup, if for no other reason than to verify that’s he’s kept breathing while she’s been away. But she hesitates, fingers gripping the sheets. There’s so much unspoken between them that needs to be resolved, but now is not the time to have that conversation. Their emotions are heightened, Hiccup’s near-death experience having shaken everyone on the Edge to some degree, but no one more so than Astrid. Trying to have an emotionally-charged conversation like that right now is not a good idea.

She can’t avoid him until a better time presents itself. But she can shove it all to one side and be his best friend until they’re both ready. She thinks. She hopes.

 _You can do this, Astrid_.

 

* * *

 

The door to his hut is open to allow the breeze to drift through, and she enters without knocking to find him in the middle of changing his shirt. And the sight of his bare chest is definitely not helping her new resolution.

“Oh!” she gasps, turning away to hide the flush rising in her cheeks.

“Astrid! Uh- uh- what are, uh, you, uh, doing here?”

“I, uh, came to see how you were after Gothi finished with you. I should have knocked, I’m sorry!”

“No, it’s okay, it’s all good…” A slightly awkward pause. “You can, uh, turn back around now.”

Astrid takes a breath to compose herself before complying, her gaze falling onto him sat at his desk with his back pressed against the wood.

“So, what did Gothi say?” she says, crossing over to lean on the wall near him.

Hiccup smiles and ruffles his hair sheepishly. “She says she thinks I’m lucky to be alive after such a stupid idea-”

“She and me both-”

“But I should have no lasting damage thanks to the twins.” He chuckles. “That’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.”

Astrid smiles. “Your lungs are okay?”

“A little waterlogged but they’ll be fine in a few days. She says swallowing food might be difficult but I haven’t had any issues so far so I might not have to worry about that. The annoying thing is that she says I’m not to fly until my lungs are better.”

“Well that’s okay, I can take Toothless out for some flights-”

“But I’ll be so _bored_ ,” he whines. “What am I supposed to do, just sit and watch while you two have fun without me?”

“Yep.”

He pouts at her, and Astrid can’t help the smile that spreads across her face in response, causing his features to twitch into a scowl. “Sorry, you just look so…”

“Pitiful?"  
  
“I was going to say ridiculous.” His scowl deepens further, and she tilts her head back in laughter.

“Really appreciate the support, Astrid,” he grumbles, but she can see the twinkle in his eye that means he’s joking.

“So, what are you gonna fill your time with while you’re grounded?”

“Not sure yet. I’m sure I’ll find something to tinker with.”

“We’ll have to build a new hut just to contain all the knick-knacks you come up with.”

“Ha ha ha,” he chuckles sarcastically.

A companionable silence extends between the two. Astrid makes no attempt to break it, but just steps forward and takes his hands in hers. Hiccup squeezes them and smiles up at her.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she says softly.

“Me too,” he whispers back.

They stay like that for a while. The world may continue around them, but for the young Vikings, everything of importance is right in front of them.

 

* * *

 

While Hiccup recovers, everything on Dragon’s Edge kind of just… stops. 

It’s not that the other riders think that Hiccup’s work ethic is too intense but given that their main pressure to be busy all the time is currently confined to bed, the work around the Edge slowly grinds to a halt a couple of days after the Submaripper incident. The others take to the beaches and the meadows, revelling in the summer sun, and Astrid can’t find it in her heart to stop them. She’d join in herself if it didn’t mean leaving Hiccup alone. For obvious reasons, he’s not keen on swimming.

The two of them spend their time together almost exclusively during his recovery, sat in his hut, or the clubhouse, or the stables, doing small tasks that his lungs can handle. There’s also a lot of sitting and talking for hours and hours, all over the Edge, and Astrid always kicks herself after those for things she says, or, more importantly, doesn’t say. But the timing’s still not right; he’s recovering physically from a traumatic experience and the last thing he needs is emotional strain to add to that mix. So she doesn’t continue the conversation they nearly had on the ship, and Hiccup makes no attempt to reignite it either.

About two weeks after their return to the Edge, Astrid is perched on the platform outside his door as she has taken to doing after dinner, looking up at the clear, star-strewn sky when she hears the soft _thump-click_ of Hiccup’s footsteps approaching her from behind.

“Mind if I join you?” She looks up over her shoulder to see Hiccup standing barefoot a few paces behind her, wearing only soft trousers and his usual red tunic. Without his usual leather garments, it’s easy to make out the lines of his chest, subtle but taut muscles. She fights the blush rising to her cheeks at the intimate nature of his appearance and nods.

“Please.” 

Astrid turns her gaze back to the night sky as Hiccup sits, taking a deep but silent breath in an attempt to calm her heart. It works quite well until she feels his shoulder nudge hers.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Just thinking.”

“What about?”

“Things.”

He laughs softly. “Am I gonna get more than that out of you?"  
  
She offers him a soft smile. “Maybe. Soon.”

He nods. “Well, you know, if you need me, I’m always here.”

Astrid sighs. “If only you knew,” she mutters.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

They sit in silence for several minutes, just gazing up at the stars. The night is warm, but a gentle breeze runs across the edge that raises goosebumps on Astrid’s skin. Or maybe it’s Hiccup shifting his hand so that it just brushes hers that does it. He must notice her tension because he takes a deep breath and turns to face her.

“We haven’t really talked about… what happened that day,” he begins gently.

Astrid is momentarily silenced. “You mean when…?”  
  
“Yeah, when I nearly drowned.” She hears him sigh. “I guess I want to make sure that you’re okay, that it hasn’t upset you too much.”

“Of course it’s upset me, Hiccup!” she cries, the emotions bursting out before she can put a lid on them. “You nearly _died_! I sat there and watched Tuff and Ruff press on your chest for so long, and I had to breathe for you, and then you still didn’t breathe by yourself and all I could think about was how I was going to have to try and live in a world without you in it and I just…” Her breath hitches and her face ducks as she fights back tears. 

“Astrid…” His hands meander for a second, unsure where to go, before settling on picking hers up. “Look at me?”

She turns her head and stares into a pair of kind green eyes.

“I’m here,” he says. “I’m alive.” He places one of her hands on his chest, where she can feel the steady thrumming of his heart – although she notes it does pick up the pace as she rests it there. “I’m okay.”

“Hiccup…”

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” he says softly.

“You should be.”

He snorts. “Yeah, I guess I deserve that.”

She takes the initiative and leans over to take him in her embrace, arms locking around his waist.

“Thank you,” she smiles into his chest. “For not dying.”

“You asked me to come back to you. How could I deny you?” he murmurs, a hand coming up to cup her face, thumb smoothing over her cheekbone. Their eyes lock, and she smiles briefly before she processes what he’s really said.

“Wait, you heard that?” Oh gods, but if he heard that, it means she said all that out loud, and that means they _all_ heard her say-

“Yes,” he whispers, his eyes searching hers.

“Oh, I’m such an idiot,” she says, withdrawing from his touch to bury her face in her hands. “Oh, that is absolutely not how I wanted to tell you the first time.”

“Astrid-”

“I’m so sorry Hiccup, I wanted to say it when it was just the two of us so you could get out of it if you wanted to, I didn’t mean to-”

She’s cut off as he moves her hands away from her face and then leans in to gently graze his lips against hers. His lips. Warm. Full. Alive.

“I love you too,” he whispers against her mouth, before kissing her again.

It takes Astrid several seconds to recover before she can kiss him back.

And, _oh_ , it’s everything she’s ever imagined it to be and more. The sheer softness of his lips brushing against hers. The gentle way one hand cups her cheek, the other resting on her hip. The thrumming in her chest as she realises that she’s waited so long for this and now they’re here and  _he feels the same way too_ …

She would stay there forever, knotting her hands in his hair to hold him in place, but they’re both young and inexperienced and caught in the rush of it all and after a while they have to pull away to get their breath back. But not far. Just enough to create a gap, but with foreheads still pressed together, grinning at each other with smiles so radiant they could light up a whole village.

“So.”

“So.”

They both chuckle.

“You know, if you wanted me to kiss you, you could’ve just asked. You didn’t need to go to the hassle of nearly drowning.”

Hiccup laughs, a beautiful, clear sound that sets Astrid’s soul alight. “I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” he murmurs, leaning in to capture her lips again.

 

* * *

 

When Astrid walks into breakfast the next morning holding Hiccup’s hand, she expects the other riders to immediately start making suggestive comments, to catcall and whistle and turn Hiccup’s face red with embarrassment. She expects Snotlout to chortle about how he would be a better option; Tuffnut to start sprouting nonsense about the whimsical nature of young love; Ruffnut to make a snide comment about something inappropriate that only Astrid will understand; Fishlegs to look simply overwhelmed with it all.

What happens is Fishlegs looks up, mutters a good morning, and returns to his breakfast. The others don’t even acknowledge their entrance.

“Uh, good morning gang?” Hiccup says.

“Morning Hiccstrid,” Snotlout offers through a mouthful of roasted fish. He swallows and gestures with the skewer towards their entwined hands. “Guess you two finally made out.

“Uh-”

“It’s about time,” Tuff says, picking at his nails. “We were wondering how long it was going to take you. We even had bets going.”

“Oh yeah, this means you all owe me,” Fishlegs chimes in, not lifting his eyes from his breakfast. The others give exasperated sighs, disaffected at their losses.

“How much was it?”

“Thirty each."  
  
“ _Thirty?!_ ”

“Sixty for you, Snotlout.”  
  
“What?"

“You bet me double that Astrid would slap Hiccup hard enough to leave a mark.”

“I didn’t specify where though! It could be on his-”

“Woah, woah, woah!”

“You guys bet on when we would get together?”

“Duh,” Ruffnut smirks, raising an eyebrow; Astrid throws her a death glare.

“How could you have known about this? We only just- well, got together last night.”

“H, A, we’ve been waiting for this for _years_ ,” Tuffnut smirks. “The only people who didn’t know that you were in love with each other were you two.”

“You idiots,” Ruff cackles. “You could have had months more of fun, by now you could’ve done so-”

“Finish that sentence and you won’t walk properly for a month.”

“I thought it would be only Hiccup you’d subject to that to now. Are you offering, though? I could use a good-” Ruff dodges Astrid’s punch easily and darts off to sit on the other side of the table next to Fishlegs, continuing to snicker softly.

“What is she on about?” Hiccup asks her. She feels her face flush.

“I’ll tell you later,” she mutters, pulling him forward gently so they can sit down on the bench.

Hiccup hands her a fish, and the two of them go about skewering them in order to roast them over the fire. The process lasts a couple of minutes, but no one else speaks in that time, the rest of the gang just watching them all with shit-eating grins on their faces.

“Okay, _what_?” she asks once her fish is balanced over the coals. “What are you all staring at?”

“You guys.”

“What about us? Clearly this isn’t unexpected for you all so I don’t understand why I can feel your eyes drilling holes into us.” Next to her, Hiccup takes a mouthful from a tankard.  
  
“We wanna see you kiss.”

Hiccup starts but manages to keep the liquid in his mouth. He swallows heavily and looks round the table. “You want to see us… what? Why?”

“Because we’ve been waiting for this for _years_.”

“Yeah, it’s like we’ve all read the same book, but someone tore the last few pages out, so we’ve had to wait for what happens at the end. And the wait has been painful, my friend.” 

“That was… surprisingly articulate, Tuff.”

“What can I say? My lyrical prowess is legendary, from Berk to Stockholm.”

Another couple of seconds of silence.

“So….?”

Astrid rolls her eyes. “Oh, for the love of Thor,” she mutters, grabbing Hiccup’s shirt and pulling him down to her.

She means it to just be a peck to satisfy the vultures, but once she feels his lips on hers, she doesn’t want to stop. Hiccup obviously has the same reaction, because she feels the softest moan rise in his throat and his hands come to rest on her waist, pulling her the last few inches along the bench until their thighs are touching. Astrid releases his shirt and brings her palm up to cup his face, and then everything melts away, and for a little while they exist just between the two of them, lips brushing softly, breath light on their cheeks. But then Astrid pulls on his bottom lip and Hiccup almost growls, his tongue darting out to brush across her own and-

“Woah, okay, you two, get a room if you’re gonna start shoving tongues down throats,” Snotlout interjects, and it’s enough to break them apart, red-faced from both the kiss and embarrassment.

“You asked,” Astrid scowls at him. “Hiccup, your fish needs turning.”

“Right!” His voice is a little high pitched, but when he meets her eye, she can see he’s just self-conscious. Thankfully, their public display of affection appears to have sated the others, and breakfast continues like any other day.

“So, H, are you back to work today?”

“Slowly. Gothi said I could fly today if I wasn’t coughing anymore, so I think Toothless and I are gonna go out on a short recon flight, just to get a feel for it again.”

“Is Astrid going with you?” Snotlout smirks. “Because if you want an excuse for ‘time alone’, I can think of better reasons-”

“Snotlout, could you stand up please?” Astrid smiles, her tone almost sickly sweet.

The others cower at the knowledge of what usually follows Astrid’s too-nice tone, but Snotlout is too ego-centric to register it and pushes to his feet regardless. “What’s this for-?”

Astrid socks him in the gut, before bending over to hiss in his ear. “Make any more comments about our relationship, or me and Hiccup having sex, and I will personally remove any chance of you having either yourself. Understand?”

“Uhh…”

Astrid stalks back over to Hiccup and pulls him to his feet. “Can we eat on the move?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he mutters, grabbing their fish and letting her lead him off.

Astrid fumes as they leave the clubhouse, consumed in her own fury until she feels Hiccup’s hand on her shoulder.

“Astrid?” he asks tentatively. “Is, er, everything okay?”

She comes to a halt; he takes the opportunity to place the fish down on a nearby crate and come around to her front. Astrid raises her eyes to see him squinting down at her, a mix of nervousness and concern.

She sighs, the tension in her body dissipating. “I’m sorry, Hiccup, I didn’t mean to get so antsy.”

“It’s okay, Snotlout gets on everyone’s nerves. But you’re usually so calm about it. What’s different?”

“This."

He chuckles. “Yeah, okay, fair point.”

Astrid shrugs. “I guess… I don’t like them seeing us as a single thing? I mean we’re together now and that’s wonderful-” Hiccup smiles and the faintest blush rises in his cheeks. “But I don’t want them to start thinking of me as just your girlfriend, or your... I’m still my own person, is all.”

“Of course you are.” Hiccup offers his arms, and Astrid slots into his embrace without hesitation. “It’s just new for them. I expect we’ll have to endure a little teasing for a few days, but they’ll get used to it. They’ll have to.”

“Will they?”

“Well, I don’t ever plan on ever loving anyone else, so yeah, they will.”

Astrid steps back from their embrace and looks up into the face of the man she adores with all her heart.

“We can do this. Together.” His hands take hers, and she squeezes them back.

“Together,” she agrees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the next thing will be 100% fluff to give y'all a break from the whump
> 
> give me suggestions about what to write I need ideas lol
> 
> be kind to yourself and others!
> 
> minty xoxo


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